12 Oakdale

I woke up with a fever and coughing. I’ve caught the cold that Clara has been fighting all week. We thought she was past the contagious stage when she came over to make cookies last week. Guess not. The next day, her fever was back. What’s done was done. Another opportunity for my immune system to be exercised. Stephane, Kyle and Clara came over for our traditional Christmas dinner of roast beast, a three-rib hunk of beef that we will be eating on for a week. Steph made beet and greens salad, Kyle brought huge twice baked potatoes (half of mine is waiting for me in the fridge), Grant made his green beans with tomatoes at Clara’s request, and I baked a mincemeat pie, topped with whipped cream. Pickles, garlic white bean dip with crackers, and cookies filled any empty spots in our tummies. The kids used to love a song titled “No More Room For Broccoli” which explained how stomachs could be too full for nutritional dinner parts, but there was always room for dessert. We filled every nook ...

MERRY CHRISTMAS AND HAPPY NEW YEAR. How different this year has been from the last.  After a year at home, we are now comfortable traveling and meeting our neighbors, joining Orange County Audubon and the Windermere Tree Board.  Through dumb luck, we learned about availability of Covid shots in our area, so on Jan. 7th, we got in line at the Orange County Convention Center for our first. Suddenly, we felt confident we would once again see family and friends. After our second shot, I booked tickets for San Diego. Everyone talks about missing grandchildren, which we did, but hugging daughter Mary, after not seeing her for 364 days, just about stopped my heart. She and Ryan had artificial grass and a swing set with slides installed in their back yard, which was a lifesaver for Bella and Remi, since California parks were locked down almost all year. I helped them build raised garden beds, and Bella carefully planted carrots and radish seeds, while Mary added tomatoes, peppers an...

I’ve hired a personal trainer. It’s come to that. Ever since Grant fell off his bike, we’ve fallen off the exercise wagon. Yes, we occasionally rode our stationary bike, and we talked about taking walks. Our fat cells had little to fear. An intervention was needed.  I texted every trainer recommended on NextDoor, a neighborhood-based app, telling them we were a couple of old geezers who wanted  needed to work on our cores. Two texted they were available, two had full schedules, and two never responded. We hired Denny for 6 weekly sessions. I wanted to continue my preference for hiring women, however Grant was frightened by Delia after she said she’d make it fun with dance moves. He’s stilled scarred from our ballroom dance lessons experience.  We’ve had 2 appointments with Denny. I can actually feel an ab respond when I remember to pull in my stomach. On the other hand, my knee is killing me from our homework of getting up off the floor 5 times each day. Feeling cocky abo...

At least three years ago, I’d read about a fabulous exhibit of 6 paintings of Ovid’s myths involving fleshy, naked Greek women and goddesses that were united for the first time since the 1500’s, when Titian painted them for Philip II of Spain. Should we see it at the National Gallery in London or the Prado in Madrid? Both were appealing; both were rendered moot by Covid. The last stop of the tour was the Isabella Stanley Gardener Museum, in Boston. Mrs. Gardener bought one of these, “The Rape of Europa” in 1896, the first Titian brought to America, as the highlight of the museum she created. (Any woman named Isabella gets a free lifetime membership of the ISG. I am signing Bella up.) So to Boston we went, staying at the Omni Parker House Hotel, where they claim Parker House rolls and Boston Cream pie originated. Sadly, their restaurant is still closed, so we had to eat elsewhere. The Beantown Pub, Vietnamese Bahn Mi Ho, and Cantina Italiana substituted nicely. We are good hunter/gather...

We had planned to drive to Fort Lauderdale on the Sunday two weeks beforeThanksgiving, eat dinner with son Patten, spend the night at a friend’s, then, the reason for the trip, I’d have my annual birthday breakfast with Deb and Pat, who share the same birthday. Deb and I have been celebrating together for almost 30 years; Pat joined us a few years ago.  But, after 7 years of waiting, that Monday was announced as the opening day of the trial of the alleged murderer of Deb’s dear friend. The jury was to be seated the week before, and the victim’s husband and son were to testify the first day. They had requested that Deb and her husband be there as support. If we were still living in Fort Lauderdale, I’d have joined them. This robbery-gone-wrong was the most horrific crime against one of the nicest persons I’ve known. She would have given the thug whatever he wanted. But, rather, she was brutally stabbed to death. The case got crazier when the alleged murderer, known in his neighborho...

We celebrated Thanksgiving with 19 of our family, including a new grandnephew and a new perhaps significant other. Two turkeys, 4 kinds of stuffing, veggies, etc, with all the trimmings, plus 7 pies, banana bread, and brownies. Then Stephanie brought out the chocolate cake she’d made for my birthday, cookies, cupcakes, and Rice Krispie treat “drumsticks”.  Fortunately, our family is all vaccinated, with the exception of the younger children. We didn’t have any of the fights other families had. My neighbor has a niece and her husband who refused to be vaccinated, so there was much deliberation about how to handle the situation. Conveniently, the couple and their teenage children all came down with Covid, so were too sick to come to dinner. As they say, karma is a bitch. I was the delighted recipient of a big-numbered rain gauge from sister Peg, a blinged-out Christmas flamingo and flamingo-decorated bowls from Step and Clara, a set of prime-rated ear buds from my sweetie, and 2 of t...

The delightful palm warblers have returned. Groups of 10 or so flit through the yard, eating bugs from the shrubs and trees. The phoebes have also come, sitting on the telephone wires and singing their names, so they are easy to identify. With them came wind, cooler weather, and lots of rain. Our south side yard was flooded. When we have the roof redone and new gutters hung, I’m investigating adding a rain barrel. I also want a rain gauge. With two days of rain, I abandoned weeding and yard work. We went to Lowe’s and bought a closet system to install in the guest bedroom. We put double rods on the right with a tower of shelves and drawers in the middle. On the left, we have a narrow slot, with a single high rod. I hung my long dresses and coat on that rod and realized its left end was about an inch lower than the right. Too bad; it’s not being reinstalled. As Grant said, were we to go into the closet biz, we’d have to bid by time not by the job. We are both slow, yet incompetent. Stil...